


SACHEM'S-WOOD: 



SHORT POEM, 



WITH NOTES. 




NEW HAVEN: 

PUBLISHED BY B. o: W. NOYES. 

Hiithcuck & SiaiToiJ, Primers. 

1838. 



2Hil\} 






:^ 



I 

i 



Fellow-Citizens : 

The sweet-blowing breezes of these 
regenerated times, have stimulated a be- 
fore drooping fancy, (even in extremely- 
warm weather !) to the task of weaving 
a few rhymes ; which, as they relate to 
local matters, I beg you to accept, as a 
testimony of renewed pleasure and pride 
in my native State. 

New Havk\, 'JOth July, 1838. 



SACHEM'S-WOOD. 



Farewell to " Highwood /" name made dear 
By lips we never more can hear ! 
That came, unsought for, as I lay, 
Musing o'er landscapes far away ; 
Expressive just of what one sees, 
The upland slope, the stately trees ; 
Oaks, prouder that beneath their shade 
His lair the valiant Pequot made, 
Whose name, whose gorgon lock alone, 
Turned timid hearts to demi-stone. 



sachem's-wood. 

Within this green pavilion stood, 
Oft, the dark princes of the wood, 
Debating whether Philip's cause 
Were paramount to Nature's laws ; — 
Whether the tomahawk and knife 
Should^ at his bidding, smoke with life ; — 
Or pact endure, with guileless hands, 
Pipes lit for peace, and jyaid-for lands, 
With men, who slighted frowns from kings, 
Yet kept their faith in humblest things. 
The " Pillars" of our infant state, (1) 
Shafts, now, in Zion's upper gate. 

How changed, how softened, since the trail 
Suddenly turned the finder pale ; 
Since Highwood's dells, a tangled brake, 
Harboured the otter, deer, and snake ; 
Since to St. Ronan's sparkling brink 
The wolf and wild cat came to drink ; 
Since our good sires in their old hall. 
Met armed for combat, prayer, and all ! 
Now, from this bench, the gazer sees 
Towers and white steeples o'er the trees, 
Mansions that peep from leafy bowers, 
And villas blooming close by ours ; 
Hears the grave clocks, and classic bell. 
Hours for the mind and body tell ; 
Or starts, and questions, as the gong 
Bids urchins not disport too long. 



SACHEM S- WOOD. 



A blended murmur minds the ear 
That an embosom'd City's near. 
See ! how its guardian Giants tower. 
Changing their aspects with the hour ! — 
There, Sassacus* in shade or glow, 
Hot with the noon, or white with snow, 
Dark in the dawn, at evening red. 
Or rolUng vapours round his head, 
A type of grandeur ever stands. 
From God's benignant, graceful hands ! 

Once, on his top the Pequot stood. 
And gazed o'er all the world of wood, 
Eyed the blue Sound, and scann'd the bays, 
Distinct in evening's mellow rays. 
For ships, pursuing on the main. 
As Mason tracked him o'er the plain. 
Like a green map, lay all below, 
"With glittering veins where rivers flow. 
The Island loomed, in soft repose ; — 
No spire, no mast, no mansion rose ; — 
Smokes, here and there, from out the screen 
Denoted still an Indian scene ; 
One, only, native roof he sees. 
Where Belmont now o'erlooks the trees. (2) 
The distance stretched in haze away, 
As from his Mount by Mystic bay, 

* East Rock. 



SACHEM S-WOOD. 

Whence, as the cakimet went round, 
His ejT^es could measure all the Sound, 
Or, in the boundless Ocean, find 
Delight for his untutored mind. 
Far eastward steals his glistening eye, 
There, where his throne, his people lie, 
Lie prostrate — subjects, children, power, 
All, all extinguished in an hour. (3) 
The heart-wrung savage turned aside — 
But no tear stained a Pequot's pride ; 
The dark hand spread upon his breast. 
Only, the wampum grasped, and pressed : 
He turned — he stopped — took one last view- 
And then, like Regulus, withdrew. 
These mountains, rivers, woods, and plain. 
Ne'er saw the Pequot King again ; 
Far in the regions of the west. 
The Mohawk sent him to his rest. 
No Pale-face boasted ; none made bold 
To touch that lock, till he was cold. 

Shall no memorial in the land 
Remain of Sassacus ? Like sand 
Beat by the sea, shall every trace 
Of the great spirit of his race, 
Be swept away ? — No longer, tame 
Mountains by an ignoble name. 
Let Sassacus forever tower. 
Changing his aspect with the hour ! (4) 



SACHEM S-VVOOD. 



In the soft west, as day declines, 
The Regicide,* his rival, shines ; 
Whose noble outline on the sky- 
Draws, and detains, the enamoured eye, 
For, floating there, the steeds of eve 
Flakes from their ruddy nostrils leave. 
In his wild solitudes, of old, 
The patriot Outlaws kept their hold. 
When foreign optics that way dart, 
A thrill electric wakes the heart ; 
Imagination hurries o'er 
Our early annals, and before ; 
Flits, and is gone, from that lone Rock, 
To the sad pageant of the block. 

Seldom, a real scene you see 
So full of sweet variety ; 
The gentle objects near at hand. 
The distant, flowing, bold, and grand. 
I've seen the world, from side to side, 
Walked in the ways of human pride, 
Mused in the palaces of kings, 
And know what wealth to grandeur brings ; 
The spot for me, of all the earth, 
Is this, the dear one of my birth. 
Go, search the page of Grecian lore, 
Scan all the men, and deeds, of yore, 

* West Rock. 



10 sachem's-wood. 

Read how the Kingless Power grew great, 
And note how wolf-cubs found a state ; 
Go, feast among the Feudal brave ; 
Go, quaff with robbers in their cave ; 
Try, what distinction reason's eye, 
Twixt towers and caverns can espy. 
Then, mark how our " Seven Pillars" rise. 
Built up, like those which prop the skies. 
On Justice, Truth, and Peace, and Love, 
With Grace cemented from Above ! 
Where is the violence or wrong 
Done to the weak, as we grew strong ? 
Where is the record of disgrace 
We blush, or ought to blush, to face ? 
What landless Indian could declare 
Ow' shameful arts to peel him bare ? 
Or, justly change, if armed with powers, 
A mete or landmark claimed as ours 1 
The spot most blameless of the earth 
Is this, the sweet one of my birth ; 
This, and the land where virtuous Penn 
Followed his Saviour out, with men. 

Vicarious agency, we know, 
Is heaven's proceeding here below. 
Thro' others' faith, in others' stead. 
Mercies find access to our head. 
Our fathers' noble self-denial 
Purchased a treasure we've on trial ; 



sachem's-wood. 11 

Which low ambition, avarice, crimes, 
May turn to dross in after times. 
They, who. in Newman's barn, laid down 
Scripture "foundations" for the town ; (5) 
The men, I say, whose practic mind 
Left Locke and Plato far behind, 
They drank the cup, they bore the pain,. 
And see ! what crowns our native plain ! 

So, by another's taste and toil. 
High wood was snatched from common soil, 
Its oaks preserved, and we placed here, 
With thanks to crown the circling year. 
Ah ! what a race by him was run. 
Whose day began before the sun ; 
Who, at the sultry hour of noon. 
Felt action, action still a boon ; 
Who, at the weary shut of eve. 
No respite needed, no reprieve ; 
But, in those hours when others rest. 
Kept public care upon his breast ! 
Need we demand a cherished thought. 
For one whose lavish labours brought 
Health, comfort, value, praise, and grace, 
(Even for our bones, a resting place,) 
To the lov'd spot for which he stood. 
When neighbour townsmen gasped in blood ? — 
But Heaven leaves not to human praise 
The recompense of well-spent days. 



12 SACHEM S-WOOD. 

The cheerful morn, the short, sweet night, 
The mind, as sunshine, ever bright. 
Approving conscience, growing store, 
(For tho' God took, he gave back more ;) 
A breast, like Hector's, of such space. 
That strength and sweetness could embrace ; 
Power to endure, and soul to feel 
No hardship such, for others' weal ; 
Ardour, that logic could not shake ; 
Resource, the nonplus ne'er to take ; 
A filial love of mother earth 
That made keen labour sweet as mirth ; — 
All, brought him to his age so green, 
Stamped him so reverend, so serene, 
A stranger cried, (half turning round,) 
" That face is worth a thousand pound !" 
Urged by a simple antique zeal. 
Which spoils-men are too wise to feel. 
He traversed States like stents for boys ; (C) 
Huge forests pierced o'er coi'diiroys ; — 
Now, grain by grain, the folios sifted. 
Thro' which some Proteus title shifted ; — 
Now, o'er deep fords, by night, as day. 
O'er mountain ledges, pick'd his way ; 
Here, on his path, the savage glaring. 
There, savage whites his gray head daring :- 
Still — rain, or snow, or mirk, or mire — 
Tracks were the tokens of the sire ! 



sachem's-wood. 13 

Tracks of a minim called Young Gin, 

His sulky that you see me in ! 

The patient sparkle in his eye, 

Said he would yet sup Jordan dry. (7) 

Fancy oft bids affection mark 

His little, onward-toiling ark, 

Like a dark speck, on some hill's breast, 

Climbing, to vanish in the West ; 

And asks, what thoughts sustained and cheer'd, 

What were his hopes, and what he feared? 

If aught he feared, 'twas not that Eye, 

Certain the upright to descry. 

That watched thro' houseless wilds his way, 

Kept him in darkness safe as day. 

And, doubtless, soothed his journeyings lone, 

As that meek Servant's of his own. 

Like a ripe ear, at last he bends 

Close on the brink, that trial ends. 

None saw his spirit in decay. 

Or marked his vigour ebb away. 

Grace bade him lay his own white head. 

For the last time, on his own bed, 

Then, as to spare the gloom of death. 

Took, at a draft, the Sache7n^s breath. (8) 

But other Highwoods meet the ear, 
Making our home scarce ours appear. 
Something uncommon, something wild, 
Peculiar to the Forest child. 



14 sachem's-wood. 

Would please me more than any name 
To which another can lay claim. 
So farewell High wood ! — " Highwood-Par/c" 
O'ersteps the democratic mark : 
We never gave it, or desired, 
We never owned it, or admired. 
A Yankee — Whig — and gentleman, 
Should be a plain republican — 
Proud he may be, (some honest pride 
Would do no harm on t'other side,) 
Proud for his country, but not full 
Of pufty names, like Mr. Bull ; 
Proud of his good old Federal stock ; 
Ready to give for't word or knock ; 
Fouling no nest in which he grew, 
As many modern patriots do ; 
Flinching from no man's sneer or ire ; 
Sticking to truth, thro' print and fire ; 
Dead against demagogues, and tricks ; 
Staunch as the Whig of seventy-six, 
Whose grass-grown remnants, yonder, feel 
More genuine warmth for human weal. 
Than all the " crib-fed" knaves and drones, 
That praise and pick us to the bones. 
Ancestral woods ! must we forego 
An epithet we love and know. 
For some new title, and proclaim 
That steady folk have changed their name. 



SACHEM S-WOOD. 



15 



'Twere ominous — It should not be — 

It looks like turning— Hold ! let's see— 

The name, I swear, I won by wit, 

I poached on no man — stole not' it — 

'Twas branded on my rakes and hoes. 

Before the other Highwood rose. 

Yet legends say that Geoffrey Crayon, 

Cruising round Weehawk one play day on, 

(For where " auld Hornie !" has not he 

Spook' d twixt the prairies and the sea?) (9) 

There, where your eye, at once, controls 

Sails from the tropics and the poles, 

The belted city, glorious bay. 

And, northward, God's and Clinton's way, 

Down which, an empire's harvests ride, (10) 

And Fulton's smoking chariots glide ; 

Christened the trees that then peeped o'er 

The bastions of that haughty shore, 

Highwood. — Pray how could I 

Know, or suspect a thing so sly ? — 

And were that Highwood now the den (11) 

Of foxes, or that kind of men, 

Egad ! I'd hurl the name so far, 

It ne'er my tympanum could jar. 

But when we reason something higher, 

Observe, there, people we admire ; 

Of j)roven worth, urbane, and true ; 

Keeping the line their fathers drew; 



16 sachem's-wood. 

A graceful vine, a noble shoot, 
Each from a venerated root ; (12) 
Good stock, good nurture, and a tone, 
I hope, as Federal as mine own — 

I feel 1 blush to own the pain — 

And half am tempted to refrain. — 
But memory's glass is at mine eye ; — 
And shadows pass of things gone by. 
The Sachem^s day is o'er, is o'er ! 
His hatchet, (buried oft before,) (13) 
In earnest rusts ; while he has found, 
Far off, a choicer hunting ground. 
Here, where in life's aspiring stage. 
He planned a wigwam for his age, 
Vowing the woodman's murderous steel, 
These noble trunks should never feel ; 
Here, where the objects of his care. 
Waved grateful o'er his silver hair ; 
Here, where as silent moons roll by. 
We think of him beyond the sky. 
Resting among the Wise and Good, 
Our hearts decide for Sachem's-Wood. 

Sachem's- Wood, 30<A July, 1838. 



NOTES. 



NOTE I. 

The, ^^ Pillars''' of our infant stale. — p. 6. 

Seven in number, with John Davenport and Tlieophilus 
Eaton at their head, the founders of New Haven, then a 
separate jurisdiction. (See Professor Kingsley's Historical 
Discourse on the two Hundredth Anniversary of the Settle- 
ment of New Haven. ) 

NOTE II. 

Where Belmont now overlooks the trees. — p. 7. 

The name by which its former owners designated the 
eminence on which Henry Whitney, Esq. is now erecting a 
seat — in full and near view from the top of Sassacus. The 
time alluded to, was the year 1637. New Haven was 
founded in 1638. 
3 



18 



NOTE III. 
All, all extinguished in an hour. — p. 8. 

" Thus," (at the taking of Mystic Fort,) " parents and 
children, tlie sannup and squaw, the old man and the babe, 
perished in promiscuous ruin." — Trumb. vol. i. p. 86. 

NOTE IV. 

Let Sassacus forever tower. 

Changing his aspect ivith the hour ! — p. 8. 

Sassacus was the great prince of the nation. — " When the 
English began their settlements at Connecticut," (a previous 
affair to the establishment of New Haven,) he had "twenty, 
six Sachems under him." — "His principal fort was on a 
commanding and most beautiful eminence, in the town of 
Groton, a few miles south easterly from Fort Griswold. It 
commanded one of the finest prospects of the Sound, and 
the adjacent country, which is to be found on the coast. He 
had another fort near Mystic river, a few miles to the east- 
ward of this, called Mystic Fort. This was also erected on 
a beautiful hill or eminence, gradually descending to the south 
and south east." — "The Pequots, Mohegans, and Nehantics, 
could doubtless muster a thousand bowmen." — The Narra- 
gansets said of Sassacus, that he " was all one God ; no man 
could kill him." — Trmib. vol. i. p. 41, 42, 43. 

The lock from his scalp, was carried to Boston by Mr. 
Ludlow, " as a rare sight, and sure demonstration of the 
death of their mortal enemy." — lb. 92. 



NOTES. 



19 



Of this formidable individual, Roger Wolcott, one of the 
old governors of Connecticut, says, 

" Great was his glory, greater still his pride, 
Much by himself, and others, magnified!" 

NOTE V. 

They, ivho, in Newman's ham, laid down 
Scripture ^^ foundations'" for the town. — p. 11. 

See Kingsley's Discourse ; also Bacon's Historical Sermons, 
now in progress ; which, we trust, will find their way to us 
through the press, in due time. 

NOTE VI. 

He traversed States like stents for boys. — p. 12. 
Stints, is the proper word. 

NOTE VII. 

Said he would yet sup Jordan dry. — p. 13. 

" Me trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth: 
his nose pierceth through snares." — Job, of Behemoth. 

NOTE VIII. 
Took, at a draft, the Sachem's breath. — p. 1^. 
The sobriquet by which James Hillhouse was known in 



20 NOTES. 

Congress and elsewhere. — The result of his labours in be- 
half of the Connecticut School Fund, alluded to in some of 
the foregoing lines, may be taken in the words of a scrupu- 
lous and well-informed narrator, it having been previously 
stated that its affairs had fallen into an entangled condition. 
" The best friends of that fund, and those most acquainted with 
" its history, have said that they would have been happy to 
"have reahzed from it, at that time, eight hundred thousand 
"dollars. After fifteen years' management, he left it in- 
" creased to one million seven hundred thousand dollars of 
"solid property. The diflerence was to be ascribed to his 
"skill, his fidelity, his accuracy, his patience, and his wonder- 
" ful and indefatigable industry. While that fund shall be 
"perpetuated, and shall continue to carry through all the 
" streets of our cities, and every rude, secluded hamlet among 
"our hills, the blessings of instruction, it will stand a monu- 
" ment to his faithful and disinterested patriotism." — The 
toils he underwent, (for the property consisted chiefly in lands 
scattered in five states, some parts of them, then, very diflicult 
of access,) and the expedients he resorted to, in accomplishing 
his great objects, cannot even be shadowed here. They 
were highly curious and interesting. He was literally " in 
journeyings often — in watchings often — in hunger and thirst 
— in perils from robbers — in perils in the wilderness" — to say 
nothing of his perils nearer home, "among false breth- 
ren." Once, he was frost-bitten ; losing, in consequence, 
during the greater part of a winter, and far from his family, 
the use of one eye : but I have been assured that he did not, 
even then, spare the other. Once he was arrested as a crimi- 
nal, by an enraged debtor, who, in his own neighbourhood, 



NOTES. 21 

exercised a party influence, and but just escaped the indignity 
of a prison. Twice he was brought to death's door, by 
fevers taken in the unsettled and unwholesome regions he 
was obliged to visit. When persuaded, with some difficulty, 
that the public welfare required him at this arduous post, in 
the same spirit in which Mr. Jay, yielding to the arguments of 
Washington, undertook the ungracious task of the British 
treaty ; he flung up his third term in the Senate of the United 
States, then just commencing,* and entered on a series of exer- 
tions, in which he displayed a fortitude, a perseverance, and a 
practical sagacity, that have never failed to excite surprise. 
The power of bodily endurance would have been nothing with- 
out the infinite tact in business ; skill would have fallen short 
of its objects, without miraculous patience and perseverance ; 
and nothing could have disarmed opposition, but that natural 
spring of sweetness in his disposition, which perpetually well- 
ed out in the midst of appalling labours, and converted in 
many, many instances, the suspicious and intractable, into 
sincere and zealous friends. The astonishing little animal he 
drove for six or eight of the first years, sometimes took the 



* He came into the Senate in 17%, in the place either of Chief 
Justice Ellsworth, or of Governor Trumbull, who both went out 
the same year; served the remainder of his predecessor's term, 
went through two terms of his own, and had commenced the third, 
■when his resignation took place in 1810— having been 14 years in 
the Senate, and five in the House of Representatives. He was 
three times elected to Congress under the Old Confederation ; but 
declined taking his seat. The foregoing dates are from the Amer- 
ican Almanac, for 1834. 



22 NOTES. 

Sachem seventy miles in a day. On one occasion, he push- 
ed her thirty miles after twilight, without stopping ; having 
been dogged by two ruffians, in a desolate part of the coun- 
try, who attempted to deprive him of his trunk. It contain, 
ed, unknown to them, twenty thousand dollars of the public 
money. After putting them to flight, he thought it prudent 
to make as 7nany tracks as possible. Her subsequent blind- 
ness, he ascribed to the severe drive of that memorable 
evening. Her " going like a grey-hound," as she descended 
the Onondaga hollow, was described to me, there, years after 
she was as stiff as the steeds of Rhesus. — As a friend once 
said of the business letters of Mr. Astor, every word weighs 
a pound ; or, as the leaves of the Sybil, which, though light 
enough for the wind, were full of ponderous meaning — so, 
reader, couldst thou peruse these flimsy verses through my 
spectacles, thou wouldst find in some of them more " than 
meets the ear." As an illustration of the words, 

"Now, o'er deep fords, by night, as day," 

take the following : — After half a day's solitary traveling, 
the Sachem once came to a stream, apparently swollen with 
rain, to an unusual depth. It was necessary to cross it, or 
be frustrated of his objects, besides measuring back a weary 
way. He undressed himself, strapped his trunk of clothes, 
papers, &c., on the top of his sulky, and reached the oppo- 
site bank with no other inconvenience than an unseasonable 
bath. — Stranger, imagine not this Portrait to be a figment, 
or even an embellishment of the imagination. It is address- 
ed to those who knew the man, and to those who knew him 



NOTES. 23 

lest, I appeal for its fidelity. Every line and epithet applied 
to him, could be substantiated by apposite anecdotes. — 
Though, perhaps, jam satis, I will add one more. 

On one of his school-fund journeys, nearly thirty years ago, 
traversing a forest in Ohio, which, for many a long mile, had 
seemed as undisturbed by human occupants, as on the day of 
creation, there suddenly glided into the path an Indian, armed 
with a gun or rifle. The apparition was rather startling. 
The Sachem nodded, however, to his compatriot, and kept 
jogging on, as if unconcerned. The Indian surveyed him 
eai-nestly, from time to time ; — but whether Young Gin 
quickened, or slackened her pace, he still kept at the wheel. 
After about six miles, the sulky drew up, and a four-pence- 
ha'penny was handed to its persevering attendant. Tlie 
Redskin received it with a grunt, or nod of thanks, turned 
off into the woods, and was seen no more. If any evil pur- 
pose was harboured, perhaps the donor owed something, on 
this occasion, to those indisputable sachem marks, which dis- 
tinguished both his person and aspect. 

I wish it had been possible, consistently with brevity, to 
throw in a iew more of the traits which made even his chil- 
dren smile at the simplicity of his feelings, while they stood 
amazed at his power, and adored his goodness. His memo- 
rable relations (memorable at least to his family) with the 
Connecticut School Fund, might be summed in the quaint 
address of Eliot, the spiritual friend of the Indians, to Robert 
Boyle : — " Right honourable, charitable, indefatigable, nurs- 
ing father P' The words are singularly applicable, also, to 
his exertions in behalf of another public interest. For fifty 
years he was the Treasurer of Yale College ; and during 



24 NOTES. 

the first thirty, he may be said to have been the Ways and 
Means of the Corporation ; — by which I intend, that in all 
their pecuniary difficulties, and in their collisions with the 
State, (for there were Anti-Grammaticals in those days, as 
well as these,) their main reliance was on his commanding 
influence, his resource and ingenuity, and on his single- 
hearted attachment to their intei'ests. In such a state of 
despondency was that body in 1791-2, that he was called 
home from Congress to advise in the threatening aspect of 
their affairs. His counsel was — unreservedly to open the 
whole condition of the Institution to the recently appointed, 
and very able Committee of the Legislature, (composed, 
however, of individuals supposed to be desirous of some 
changes,) and the result was, a Report favourable and hon- 
Durable to the College. About this time he conceived the 
idea of obtaining a grant in its favour, of certain outstanding 
taxes, the nature of which will be found explained below, 
in the words of the Hon. Mr. Pitkin.* By unflinching zeal, 



* "Before the establishment of the present constitution, the State 
of Connecticut had, at various times, laid taxes, which were pay- 
able in certain evidences of debt against the State; for the purpose 
of paying the interest and part of the principal of this debt. 

" Congress, in 1790, assumed State debts to the amount of 
$21,000,000, and the amount assumed for Connecticut, was 
SI, 600,000, and was to be funded, on certain terms, by those who 
held certain evidences of this debt. At the time of the assumption, 
a large balance of those taxes was due from the various collect- 
ors through the State, and was payable in the same evidences of 
State debt, as were assumed and authorized to be funded, under 
the act of Congress. If these balances should be paid into the 



NOTES. 25 

he carried the measure, contrary to tlie hopes of many equal- 
ly sincere, but less sanguine friends. This grant laid aneto 
the corner stone of Yale College. When he assumed his 



Stale Treasury, in those evidences of debts, they must, of course, 
be cancelled, or considered as paid. 

" In this situation, James Hillhouse, Esq., then, and long after, 
Treasurer of Yale College, and ever attentive and active in its 
pecuniary concerns, conceived the idea of having these balances 
transferred to that institution, and funded, under the a&sumplion act, 
for its benefit. With this view, he induced an application, on the 
part of the College, to be made to the Legislature of the State, and 
he was acting manager in pursuing the application. 

" To induce the Legislature to make the grant of these balances 
to the College, which were then unascertained, he proposed that the 
grant be made on the condition, that one half of the sum, which 
should be paid over to the College, and funded, should be transfer- 
red to the State by the Institution, for the use and benefit of the 
State itself 

" On these terms, Mr. Hillhouse, by his usual perseverance and 
untiring exertions, at last obtained the grant. He had great diiR- 
culties, and strong prejudices, to encounter, which no one but him- 
self could have overcome. Some of the most intelligent members 
of the assembly, professional men, on whom he had relied for sup- 
port, deemed it an impracticable scheme, and, at first, almost refu- 
sed him their aid, in attempting to carry it into effect. He then 
applied to another class of the Legislature, to the substantial 
farmers, and urged upon them the great importance of doing 
something for a College, which was the pride of the State, and 
explained to them his plan, by which not only the College, but the 
State itself, would be greatly benefitted. He interested this class 
of men, strongly in favour of his plan, and it was througn their 
influence, that the measure was finally carried through the Legis- 
lature. 

4 



26 NOTES. 

office, in 1782, one of those shadowy White Wigs, which 
then rendei'ed the Corporation illustrious, said to him : — 
" Young man, you are taking upon you an important trust. 
Remember ! in the discharge of business, you must never 
serve the Devil ; — but you may make the Devil serve 
you." Whether that venerable and honourable Body ascribe 
the rescue of their institution from a state of want and decay, 
and its exaltation to its present pitch of usefulness, to any 
agency less orthodox than the Divine blessing on disinterest- 
ed human efforts, we have not inquired. 

The subject of this note, and the late illustrious President, 
who came into office in 1795, were co-workers and broth- 
ers, — yea, more than brothers, — in all that tended to the 
enduring prosperity of this favourite object of their care. 



NOTE IX. 
SpooWd twixt the prairies and the sea. — p. 15. 
To spook — to saunter about inquisitively. — Nursery. 



" The amount of the balance of these taxes was larger than was 
apprehended, and the College received greater pecuniary benefit 
from this grant, than from all others, except the late donation by 
individuals." 

Professor Kingsley observes — " The honour of originating this 
measure, and of securing its passage through the Legislature, be- 
longs to the Treasurer, Mr. Hillhouse. No one has pretended, that 
without him, any thing would have been, or could have been done, 
on the subject." — Sketch of the History of Yale College, p. 26. 



27 



NOTE X. 
Down whicJi, an empire's harvests ride. — p. 15. 

For their prospective magnitude, see the interesting report of 
Mr. Ruggles, to the New York Legislature, during the 
last session. — One's imagination can hardly advert to the 
North River, without thoughts of steamboats, western wheat, 
&c. ; so I leave this couplet as it is, though it rings in 
my ear as if I had heard its like somewhere. I cannot 
possibly remember. If I have stumbled upon any other per- 
son's words or thoughts, they are much at his service. 

NOTE XI. 
And were that Highwood. — p. 15. 

The residence of James G. King, Esq., opposite the city 
of New York. 

NOTE XII. 
Each from a venerated root. — p. 16. 
Namely, from Archibald Gracie, and Rufus King. 

NOTE XIII. 
His hatchet, {buried oft before.) — p. 16. 
His favourite toast among old friends, uttered with a beam- 



28 NOTES. 

ing of the eye, which showed that no bitter reminiscence 
could be harboured in his heart, was, — " Let us bury the 
hatchet." It embodied the spirit of his Hfe. — It used to be 
said in the Senate Chamber, that lie kept one of these im- 
plements, under the papers and red tape, in his desk ; which 
he had been known to take out and lay carelessly by the side 
of his inkstand, when the debate waxed personal. No bad 
idea, by the bye. He, at any rate, averted many a d^'sa- 
grement, by pleasantly threatening to " take the tree.'" — His 
father, William Hillhouse, of Montville, who, in the days of 
steady habits, came up on his Narraganset pacer, and took 
his seat in one hundred and six Legislatures, (then semi- 
annual,) was a tall, spare man, as dark as the Black Douglas 
himself, and did not particularly fancy being hit, upon his 
reputed Mohegan cross. Being the Patriarch of the eastern 
section of the Slate, and with a relish of wit, he usually had 
a circle round him, at his lodgings. On a certain occasion, 
the Sachem, who had often in the State Legislature, been 
opposed in argument to his father, but was then a young 
member of Congress, happened to call on the old gentleman 
during the Hartford session, at a moment when he was reading 
with great glee to the whole jness, a squib upon the Congress 
Men, from a Philadelphia newspaper. It was at the time a 
Library was talked of for Congress. The gist of the pleasant, 
ry lay in the adaptation of a Book to the private history of each 
of the prominent Members. The old man read on, chuckling, 
for some time : at last, looking up, he said, dryly : " Why, 
Jemmy, they don't notice you at all" — "Read on, father." 
He did so ; and soon came to the volume to be ordered for 
his son, namely, a History of the AOorigines, to aid him 



NOTES. 29 

in tracing his pedigree ! For a rarity, the old gentleman 
was floored. Venerable image of the elder day ! well do I 
remember those stupendous shoe-buckles, that long, gold- 
headed cane, (kept in Madam, thy Sister's best closet, for 
thy sole annual use,) that steel watch chain, and silver pen- 
dants, yea, and the streak of holland, like the slash in an 
antique doublet, commonly seen betwixt thy waistcoat and 
small clothes, as thoa passed'st daily at 9 o'clock, A. M., 
during the autumnal session ! — One of his little grand-daugh- 
ters took it into her head to watch for her dear " Black 
Grandpapa," and insist on kissing him in the street, as he 
passed. He condescended, once ol* twice, to stoop for her 
salute ; but, anon, we missed him. He passed us no more ; 
having adopted Church street, instead of Temple street, on 
his way to the Council Chamber. This I consider as a de- 
cisive aboriginal trait ! One of the earliest recollections of 
our boyhood, is the appearance of that Council Chamber, as 
we used to peep into it. Trumbull sat facing the door — 
clarum et venerabile nomen ! — there lay his awful sword and 
cocked hat — and round the table, besides His Excellency 
and his Honour, were twelve noble looking men, whom our 
juvenile eyes regarded as scarcely inferior to gods. And, 
compared with many who floated up, afterwards, on the 
spume of party, not a man of them but was a Capitolinus. 
As the oldest Counselor — at the Governor's right hand — 
sat, ever, the Patriarch of Montville, (a study for Spagno- 
letto,) with half his body, in addition to his legs, under the 
table, a huge pair of depending eyebrows, concealing all the 
eyes he had, till called upon for an opinion, when he lifted 
them up long enough to speak briefly ; and then they imme- 



-?0 NOTES. 

diately relapsed. He resigned his seat at the age of eighty, 
in the full possession of his mental powers. The language of 
the letter before me is : " He has withdrawn from public life 
with cheerfulness and dignity." He was able, at that age, to 
ride his Narraganset from New Haven to New London, in a 
day ; abhorring " wheel carriages." At his leave-taking, 
I have been told, there was not a dry eye at the Council 
Board. 

It might not be becoming to treat further of familiar things ; 
as these notes are designed to equal in dignity the occasion 
which calls them forth ! What we have already communicated, 
is less for thy satisfaction, dear cotemporary, than for our 
own, and that of thy grand -children, and one Mrs. Veritas, 
all which persons we are habitually more solicitous to please, 
than thy respected self. 



iiiili. 

016 112 633 U W 



